Mother knows Best
by JustMine
Summary: Set post 3x01. Mama Rizzoli might just have a plan to bring our girls back together...


**Author's note:** Characters don't belong to me! (Yes dear heart, not even Dr. Maura Isles!). **Tess Gerritsen**, **Janet Tamaro** and **TNT** are the lucky ones!

Angela Rizzoli to the rescue...

* * *

Is this what kids think they are doing these days? Being cool?

Tell me world – what part of this is being cool? Shooting your best friend's father (of course, I understand that he is Boston's most-wanted and all that)? Or being in a relationship (I can't for the love of God, say sleep…) with a whatever-bag you kids call it, and bidding him a sweet good-bye after he betrayed your trust and almost turned the most trusted friendship of your life into a mess of mistakes? Or being in such constant denial about everything that you feel for the one special person of your life that you behave completely crazy when she threatens to break through your ego?

And of course, my other daughter! Excuse me, but with all of her intelligence, what special scientific mumbo jumbo will she need to finally understand how human beings feel? Sorry Doc – when your Dr. Africa boyfriend was here, I did see how sweet and wonderful you were to him. But you could not even put up a fight when he left. What kind of love is that when you can't even stand up for it?

They will say I am old – I won't understand the things going on in this world. Of course I understand everything – albeit in a little old-fashioned way may be, but I do! My daughter's happiness is still the most important thing to me – I still dream of seeing a tall handsome man waiting at the altar for her… And before you start hurling hurtful words at me, let me clarify that, that is what I have always dreamed of and I am not ashamed of it. But now I'm beginning to believe I'd rather see a gorgeous petite doctor at that altar – because I believe in happily ever after.

The world doesn't understand at first. You fight then – with all your might – you fight to keep yourself happy and sometimes even then the world doesn't give a damn. But sometimes it does realize that at the end you have to be happy to make anybody else happy. And she is my daughter – if she is not happy, I won't ever be able to be happy.

Do I feel that some of you are getting impatient? You want to know what I am doing to help them out, right? Hmmm – I am with Janie now – she is actually driving me back to Dr. Isles' place. I can't sleep on that excuse-for-a-couch anymore – and I am glad she understands that. And I am hoping she also realizes how unnecessarily tough she has been on herself in the last few hours. If she doesn't, well, I might have a plan…

By the time we reach, Maura has already returned from the cemetery and started cleaning up her place. This is another reason I wanted to come down. May be if they did something together, they would feel a little more at home. Frank and I would fight sometimes and then I'd give him the silent treatment. He would walk up to me after a while and start helping me around with whatever I was doing. I would resent at first, and then when I would stop resenting, he would sneak up on me and hold me from behind. The warmth of belonging in those arms would always melt my heart – make me feel wanted…

Maura knows that I am coming back – what she isn't ready for is seeing her friend stop by. Jane has agreed to drop my stuff off at the door and leave. But then I hug her and hold her tight, with her squirming to get away. Tears fall freely from my eyes (not that I am trying to act this sequence up), and they stop Jane. When Dr. Isles opens the door, I whisper into Jane's ears "Please stay back. I need you and she needs me. Do your mother this favor, young lady."

Jane shrugs and tears herself off the hug before storming past her friend into the house. I look at Maura. She smiles at me but doesn't protest.

Love.

The house is in a mess and knowing Maura, I know it won't be easy to put everything back in place. She silently goes back to cleaning around – Jane sits at the couch, legs and arms crossed, looking everywhere else but at her best friend. I stand there watching her for a while. As a kid she never was the type who would take anything lying down. If Frank or I would scold her for something she wasn't at fault for, she would fight and bring the roof down. At some point we learned to deal with her logic – we learned that she was an upright person and nothing done wrong would ever go down well with her. And in school she would always stand up against bullies – that would get her bruises and nicknames from some of the bigger guys, but I never saw her resolve flail. And even today I don't see that happening. On the other hand if she were at fault, she would sit there looking all arrogant. She won't storm out or fight but she would never apologize. With age, she has gotten better with the rest of the world but she still does it with me, her Pop and Frankie. And here I stand and watch her do the same with her best friend. In all her strength Janie can't hide the kid in her from Dr. Isles. I smile. Their bond can stand the test of time. Blood can be different from water but I know that blood is also made up of a lot of water. So if you ask me, I'd say we can always start from somewhere.

Coming back to the house, I know I won't be of much help if I don't follow Maura's plans. I'd make it twice the amount of work for her – so I walk up to her and gently grab her hand. She looks up at me.

"Sweetie, I am here to help you. Please don't say no because I owe you at least this much."

Her furrowed eyebrows relax. "Don't say that Angela. I have done nothing extra for you."

"Ok, then let me help you as a friend."

Maura looks at me for a few silent moments, considering my request. I catch Jane rolling her eyes from the corner of my own. _Jane!_

She takes me into confidence and tells me about her plan. We start moving things around and putting them in different places.

Jane sits there, watching me walk around. After about 5 minutes, she walks up to me. "Ma, that's not the pile for those high profile prehistoric works of… super-human art!" She takes the piece off my hand and walks off to the other side of the room. I look up smiling. Maura continues to work.

Mission accomplished!

Jane starts roaming around picking up pieces and putting them in their respective piles. I try my hand at a few more things before I get tired (genuinely) and sit down at the couch to watch them.

Jane hasn't ever received a silent treatment for being guilty. I wait for her to break the spell and vent out her anger and displeasure.

"Where does one even buy these things from?"

"That's a special Moroccan ceramic bowl, Jane. I had it ordered and shipped from Morocco after I saw it on an online bidding site. It's a Fez bowl and the artisan who handcrafted it took over a month to complete the intricate design."

"At least Connors has some taste in art!" Jane stops to look at Maura. Realization sinks in. "I am glad he didn't hurt you…"

"Yes, I am happy too that he couldn't hurt you, Jane. It was extremely careless of you to walk up on him in Paddy's room. Reinforcement could have been late and he could have asphyxiated you with any of those innumerable chords lying around!" Maura sounds concerned.

"I think I can take care of myself, Maura. You, on the other hand, clearly have a problem understanding who might hurt me and who might not." I was waiting for this meltdown to happen. Jane won't be able to keep it inside of her for too long.

"No, Jane. For nothing in the world would I ever hurt you."

"Yes, but your past would always cloud your judgment of the present."

"But I am past it now. With Doyle, it has been put to rest once and for all. I don't know if I'd ever want to meet the mother who doesn't even know I exist! Anyway, I hope I didn't come in between you and your future with your boyfriend Gabrielle" Maura's face contorts. I expect anger but I see hurt and pain in it.

"Agent Dean has gone back to DC and he is as much a part of my past as… this bowl or you are of my present."

"So that's all that I mean to you? A bowl that you can buy for a price and just wait for it to break one day?" Her voice chokes as Maura walks out of the room. She leans against the kitchen counter for support, her back towards us. I look at Jane. Will she be able to say it out loud? I feel uncomfortable sitting in the middle of it!

"Yes, Maura. You are like this bowl – but not only because I'll have to spend my entire lifetime's savings to buy it but because of all those tireless hours of magic that artisan has put in to make it what it is…"

Jane makes a move towards the kitchen and I feel myself stiffening. This is so not where I should be right now. I manage to shift uncomfortably to the corner of the couch closer to the door.

"It is because I'll spend all my money and everything I have to have you in my life. And then I'll spend my entire life protecting you because hell, I have just laid down my whole life to own you."

I look around, calculating in my mind how many steps it would take to sneak out of the room without stepping on anything or toppling over anything.

Jane walks into the kitchen now, standing behind Maura. "Because God knows how long I have spent searching for you…"

I have successfully reached the door. I finally let my breath out as I unlock it. Thanks to Dr. Isles for installing the most expensive and most silent of locks. I hear the smaller woman suppress a sob. She stands still.

I squiggle out impatiently and begin to swing the door shut behind me. I turn around one last time.

Jane closes the distance between her and Maura. Two long arms snake around the body of the smaller woman, as her head settles on the shoulder amongst honey-blonde locks.

I feel like shouting out, "Jane Clementine Rizzoli. You better make this one right."

Before I can get a chance to run out embarrassed at my daughters' antics, I close the door. I feel assured when I hear the lock click in place. I turn around to face the night. A gentle breeze ruffles up my hair.

Love will find a way. Trust me, a mother knows best.


End file.
